Cuba Frees 53 Prisoners in U.S. Deal

Cuba has finished freeing all of the 53 prisoners it agreed to release in its deal with the U.S., according to American officials. There were doubts that Raul Castro would fulfill his end of the deal between the two countries, but all specified prisoners have now been freed. The release marks a major step toward reconciliation between the U.S. and Cuba, setting a positive tone for next week’s bilateral talks on normalizing relations. A U.S. official says Washington plans to press for the release of more prisoners. “We’re going to be wanting to raise the cases of different individuals who may be detained in Cuba for exercising their universal rights.”